


Gender Bender

by Kantayra



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Crossdressing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-14
Updated: 2009-10-14
Packaged: 2017-10-19 01:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kantayra/pseuds/Kantayra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strangers' thoughts on a date in the park that isn't at all what it seems...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gender Bender

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping in the trees, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. This, of course, meant that the park was full of couples taking advantage of the wonderful weather and romantic venue. It was the sort of day vendors prayed for.

Horio Hisato was just such a vendor. He was an elderly man and had over forty years’ experience owning the ice cream shop on the corner. It was a booming business on days like today, because no date was complete without sharing an ice cream together.

That was how Hisato first saw the young couple. They were teenagers, maybe just in high school, and the young man had that utterly smitten look of first love. He was a well-groomed, straight-laced, respectable type, and he couldn’t stop looking down at his companion and blushing, like he couldn’t imagine his luck in getting this date.

The young lady was a real beauty – slender and graceful, with feathery brown hair just long enough to tickle the back of her neck. She wore a knee-length pleated skirt, a sky-blue scoop top that covered the fact that she was perhaps a bit flat-chested, and sensible yet fashionable black shoes. A beatific smile graced her face as she slipped her arm through her boyfriend’s and leaned against his broad shoulder.

“An ice cream for the beautiful lady?” Hisato asked with good-hearted charm that had never lost him a sale.

The girl looked up at her date hopefully, and the young man blushed.

“Uh, y-yes,” he stuttered in a way that the girl obviously found adorable. “A sour apple pop, and a scoop of mango.”

Hisato was secretly pleased at the first, because sour apple was his favorite, but most young people were too caught up in sweets to appreciate the tart flavor. He decided he liked this young man and undercharged him just a little.

Even he was surprised, though, when the gentleman took the mango for himself and passed the sour popsicle to his girlfriend. “Here you go, Fujiko.”

“A girl after my own heart,” Hisato teased and winked at her.

The girl beamed back at him and curled up closer to her date’s side, licking contentedly at her sour apple pop all the while.

Hisato sighed to himself and searched for more customers. It was so nice to see two young people so obviously in love.

***

Miyama Naoto was forced to conclude that, while operating the carousel was a rather boring part-time job, it definitely had its perks. Particularly, there were plenty of pretty girls who wanted to come for a ride on the ornate horses. Unfortunately, most of those girls came with their boyfriends, but Miyama wasn’t about to complain as long as he got to look. Most of the boys were so bored by such a ‘girly’ ride that they weren’t paying much attention, anyway.

That was why the one couple caught Miyama’s eyes. For once, it was the boy who looked excited and the girl who was smiling and running along after him.

“The carousel’s always the best,” the boy was insisting.

The girl just laughed, and her laughter was like bells in the air.

Usually, Miyama would have had a few snide thoughts about a teenage boy who still thought carousels were fun, but this guy didn’t look wimpy at all. He was the solid, burly type, exactly the sort of guy who you wanted at your back if you ever got into trouble. He had an earnest light in his eyes, though, and Miyama concluded that he just was that wholesome.

The girl wasn’t so bad, either, although Miyama liked to have something to look at front and center. She had great legs, though. Miyama figured she must be a dancer or something.

“Two tickets,” the boy requested with a flushed smile.

The girl curled her fingers possessively around his forearm in a way that Miyama couldn’t help but think was kind of cute. Ah, the naïveté of the teenage years, before he’d had to scramble for every yen he could make…

Miyama handed them their tickets with a smile, and the couple headed up to the carousel. He watched as the girl seemed to have some trouble getting on the horse with her skirt. Finally, her boyfriend just laughed, picked her up in his arms bridal-style, and set her down on the horse’s back like that.

Miyama waited for them to settle and started the ride. The music was monotonous to him by now, but it was fun to watch the people. There were several young kids with an older sibling, who was scrambling to keep them from jumping off the ride, and then there was a gaggle of schoolgirls eying the young couple enviously. The young couple didn’t notice them, though; they were too busy talking to each other, laughing and teasing all the while.

Miyama was almost sad to see them go.

When the ride ended, the girl grabbed the boy’s hand and dragged him over in the direction of the teacups. The boy looked a bit wary; probably he got motion sick.

Miyama snorted his amusement into his hand.

***

“You see that, Azusa?” Tanaka, ninety years and still kicking, nudged his wife in the side.

“What now?” Azusa snapped.

“That young gentleman there with his lady friend,” Tanaka nodded his head in the direction of the picnicking couple.

The boy had taken off his jacket, and he and the girl were sitting on it, pressed hip-to-hip while they ate their rice balls.

Azusa snorted. “Her skirt’s too short. She looks like a whore.”

Tanaka sighed. There had been a time once, he knew, when he and Azusa had been just as carefree. That, of course, was before seventy years of marriage, nagging, and constant complaints about the toilet seat being left up.

“I think they’re romantic,” Tanaka insisted. As he watched, the lady held out one of her rice balls between her chopsticks. The gentleman leaned in with a blush to eat from her hands. “Isn’t that sweet?”

Azusa snorted. “Before she knows it, she’ll be cleaning up his messes left and right. How many times have I told you not to—?”

Tanaka sighed and let himself watch the little fantasy for a moment longer. Ah, to be young and in love again…

***

“Step right up,” Sukiyama Hanae announced, watching the crowd with feral eyes. She grinned when she saw the boy and girl walking arm-in-arm. “You there! Win a bear for your girlfriend?” She gestured to the row of plush pandas behind her.

Just as she’d hoped, the girl’s eyes lit up, and she steered her boyfriend over to the ring-toss game.

“Only five-hundred yen for three rings!” Sukiyama flashed a red, white, and yellow plastic ring before the boy’s face. “Hit all three, and win the grand prize.” She gestured to the large, over-stuffed cat pillows on the top shelf.

“Okay,” the boy nodded, pulling out his wallet. “I’ll give it a try.”

The girl watched by his side, smiling softly.

His first throw was so hard, it knocked the pole right over.

“Haha, oops,” the boy blushed.

The girl laughed behind her hand as Sukiyama righted it once more.

“Strong boyfriend you’ve got yourself there,” Sukiyama winked at the girl.

She just smiled softly back.

The boy’s second shot went too far, and the third knocked the pole over yet again.

“Heh.” The boy scratched his head. “This is a lot harder than tennis…”

“Oh, too bad,” Sukiyama pretended to pout. “You were close on that last one. Want to give it another shot? For just a hundred yen, I’ll let you have one more ring. But only because I wouldn’t want you to disappoint such a cute girl.”

The boy blushed more. “All right…” he pulled out his wallet again.

The girl gave Sukiyama a knowing smile, like she knew exactly what sort of scam this was. Sukiyama liked a girl with spunk like that.

The boy got his last ring and threw higher this time. It missed the central pole, but caught on one of the cones in the back.

“Rough luck,” Sukiyama grinned, “but you get a consolation prize.” She showed the boy the selection of cell phone baubles to choose from.

Sheepishly, the boy presented one of a smiling fox cub to the girl.

The girl’s smile brightened as she accepted it…and then she put down five-hundred yen. “Three rings, please.”

Her voice was deeper than Sukiyama would have guessed.

“The lady’s trying it now, folks!” Sukiyama announced, trying to drum up more business. “Girls, you can impress your boyfriends, too!”

Still smiling and with, it seemed, her eyes closed, the girl caught the ring in a backhanded grip and lobbed it forward and up with a fast backspin.

Sukiyama smirked as it passed over the pole, and then her eyes widened when the spin sent the ring boomeranging back and right over the top of the pole. It didn’t even touch the sides before coming to land at the base.

“Haha,” the boy laughed sheepishly, “good shot.”

“Here’s two.” With perfect precision, the girl did it again.

Sukiyama gaped a little.

“Three and I win, right?” the girl beamed.

Sukiyama – and the rather sizable crowd that had gathered – applauded when it landed perfectly in place.

“See?” Sukiyama said, handing the girl her giant cat pillow. “It’s easy! Step right up, and win a present for your sweetheart!” She smiled. After all, even the grand prizes didn’t cost her that much, and now _all_ the boys would be convinced they could do just what that girl had just done.

“Here you go, Taka,” the girl handed her boyfriend the giant toy with a sweet smile.

The boy blushed and stammered and twined his hand with hers. Together, they walked off, shoulders brushing, the cat dangling from the boy’s free hand.

Sukiyama watched them go with a smirk, and then, slowly, her eyes widened in realization as she watched the stride of the departing girl. “Why, those sly devils,” she chuckled to herself, and chumped her next customer.

***

The sun set at the end of a perfect day, and slowly the park cleared out. One of the last to go was the young couple that had caught so many eyes that day.

“See, Taka?” the ‘girl’ said. “I told you we could have a normal date.”

“I guess,” the boy agreed. “Although I was worried when you talked back there. I think the ring-toss girl was suspicious.”

“So what if she was? She didn’t care, in any case.”

“Hmm,” the boy agreed, and then: “Fuji?”

“Mmm?”

“How can you still be smiling when you’ve been walking around in your sister’s shoes all day? Aren’t they killing you?”

Fuji laughed. “They’re murder,” he agreed. “I have a whole new appreciation for her. Do you know how hard it is to run around in a skirt?”

“Not really, and somehow I doubt this would work if _I_ were the one in drag.”

“Too bad,” Fuji smiled. “You’d look really hot in a schoolgirl uniform, Taka.”

Kawamura blushed. “Maybe…” he conceded as boldly as he could. “But I’ll only model it for you in private.”

Fuji blushed at that, too. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Their hands clasped between them and, with oblivious and approving smiles from all around, they walked on home.

“When I get you in my bed,” Fuji informed Kawamura, “I’m going to bend you over that pillow and fuck your ass until you can’t walk straight.”

Kawamura nodded eagerly.

“Aren’t they just angels?” the shopkeeper on the corner sighed.

“I wonder what they’re talking about?” the cashier agreed.

“Sweet, romantic nothings, no doubt,” the street sweeper concluded.

None of them had the slightest clue.


End file.
